Easier difficulty settings to accomodate story-oriented players is nothing new. In Persona 3 & 4, both games blatantly say the easy setting is recommended for those who just want to experience the story. The same is said for the Witcher 3, and it even goes so far as to call the easiest setting "Just the Story". In Baldur's Gate 2: Enhanced Edition, there is a story mode setting which buffs your party and makes them immortal. It's just a nicer name than something like "Very Easy" or "Mondo Weenie".

Hah yes I think I added VN Mode after seeing it in another game but can't remember which one it was. However in most of those games even if you set the Narrative/Story mode you still have to do the fights, while in my games VN Mode means skip completely those parts, when possible

Jaeger wrote:In Persona 3 & 4, both games blatantly say the easy setting is recommended for those who just want to experience the story.

Also known as the setting for people who think Hamaon/Mudoon is complete BS.

I never liked the Hama/Mudo line of spells in the SMT games. On the receiving end, I had moments of frustration of crippled parties because a key party member(s) is down or instant game over if it happened to be the main character. I didn't like using Hama/Mudo either, since I found it too unreliable and uses too much SP to be worth it.